These Regulations revoke and consolidate with amendments the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995 and Road Vehicles Lighting (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997. The amendments are as follows—

Regulation 13 and Schedules 17 and 18 allow vehicles used for police purposes to be fitted with certain markings, namely, yellow or orange retro-reflective material (in addition to red) to the rear of the vehicle and one or more of the colours yellow, blue and white (in addition to amber) to the side of the vehicle.

Regulation 27 and Schedule 23 make provision for vehicles parked no less than 15 metres from any junction of a road to be exempted from the requirement to keep all obligatory lamps lit. Previously this had been 10 metres.

These Regulations have been notified to the European Commission pursuant to European Parliament and Council Directive 98/34/EC of 22nd June 1998 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations (O.J. No. L204, 21.7.98, p. 37).

Copies of this Directive can be obtained from The Stationery Office, 16 Arthur Street, Belfast BT1 4GD.